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“Meet me at the Romano del Mare tonight to talk things through and then I’ll take you to dinner?” With the choice to make some repairs to the Romano del Mare also came a landslide of decisions to be made, and Nicolo was hoping that Adeline’s obsession to see the resort restored rather than destroyed would provide him with an excellent body of research with which to tackle the job. They had a lot of work ahead of them, and he planned to make Adeline a full partner in the process.
Adeline’s features scrunched, and her pretty mouth frowned. “I can’t tonight. I’m finalizing another sale over dinner.” Nicolo must have looked as crestfallen as he felt, because she quickly added, “A very nice couple from the mainland is coming home to retire in Sicily.”
Nicolo smiled, surprised at how relieved he was that her dinner date was business related and not pleasure. “You frightened me. I thought for a moment that I might have to serenade you in order to win your affections from another man, a torture for all involved, I assure you.”
Adeline laughed. “If you can’t sing, how would that win me from another man?”
Nicolo’s voice grew in volume. “I would sing so loud that it would drown his voice out. All you would hear was me.” He did a closed-eye shrug. “And, I might call in my brothers to carry him off when you weren’t looking.”
Adeline giggled through her fingers as they covered her mouth, but her eyes sparkled.
“Until tomorrow, t’amu?”
“I’ll see you then.”
Nicolo sat back in his chair and enjoyed the afterglow of a beautiful conversation with his beautiful girl, then his brothers one by one invaded his thoughts.
They had trusted him. They’d tapped him with the sale of the Romano del Mare. Now he would have to tell them that they were going to be prioritizing investing more money into it rather than selling it.
How things could change in a day…
When Adeline arrived at the Romano del Mare the next day around mid-morning, Nicolo had a picnic laid out for them on the dock. He’d brought a batard of bread, an assortment of cheeses, Marsala wine and olives.
“What have you done?” Adeline said, a bright smile on her face. Then her smile fell. “This isn’t to soften the news that you’ve changed your mind
, is it? Did… did your brothers refuse to back your decision to restore the resort? I know that they’re co-owners—”
Nicolo laughed, interrupting Adeline’s sudden concerns. “Bedda, you worry too much. Come, let’s eat.”
Smiling again, she brushed her light brown hair behind her ear as Nicolo showed her what he had brought for them. Then, as he held her hand to steady her, she sat gracefully atop the blanket that he’d laid at the edge of the dock. She sat her binder notebook down beside her, and within seconds she had her shoes kicked off and was sitting dangling her bare legs over the side with her skirt pulled up to her thighs.
Nicolo, of course, followed suit. Sitting down next to her, he poured them both a glass of wine. Yet, Adeline’s words were still heavy on his mind. While he had dismissed her fears, in truth they mirrored his own. He had not yet told his brothers about his change in plans, and he hoped that Adeline’s enormous binder held some information that he could use to sway his brothers to support his decision.
“Mmmm, this is nice,” she said after taking a sip.
The birds played above the sea before them, diving before swooping upwards again. With the day still early, the sun was gentle and the breeze off the Ionian Sea was forgiving.
“I do love this place,” she said, sitting back to lean against her outstretched arms.
Nicolo took in the glittering blue of the sea and the crystal clear water. He had travelled the world over, and there was nowhere else that had ever compared with this view—except for when he turned to look at Adeline. She was lovelier than anything else the earth had to offer.
I’m so gone for her. He downed his wine in one gulp at the ramifications. Loving her meant losing her which meant a broken heart. He was setting himself up for a world of pain.
Nicolo’s phone buzzed in his pants pocket, and he pulled it out. It was an email from Neerij, the owner of the company that had offered him the 500 million euro development job in India. He scanned it quickly, frowned, and then put his phone away without a response.
“Anything wrong?” Adeline asked. She had the expression of someone who was concerned but who also didn’t want to pry.
“Everything is fine,” Nicolo said, waving a hand through the air. “I’m being called to a meeting, but it’s not until next week.”
“Work?”
“Yes, it’s for a prominent construction project in India.”
“Oh.” Adeline seemed to deflate a little, and she took another sip of wine. “I guess that your work keeps you traveling a lot.”
Nicolo could hear her unspoken words. She wanted to know where she would fit into his life if he was always on the other side of the world. He wished he had an answer, but he didn’t. He’d had relationships before but they never lasted much longer than the work he did in that location. Work always—always—got the priority of his attention. It had been his truest and most lasting passion that no woman had ever been able to compete against.
It shouldn’t be a competition, he reminded himself, but the words fell flat in his head. It was his work that embodied all that was important to him in life, with the exception of his family. The women left behind had always faded away and were quickly forgotten as he started in on whatever project was laid out before him as his newest challenge.
